


Upside Down Christmas

by Taika



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 16:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taika/pseuds/Taika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Christmas time and Aidan is taking Amber to meet his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Upside Down Christmas

It was the week of Christmas and Amber Reigns was excited. It was her first Christmas with her fiancée Aidan Turner and according to the weather forecast it was going to be snowing in Ireland over Christmas. Amber and Aidan were heading to Clondalkin and joining with Aidan’s family for Christmas day. It would be the first time Amber had ever experienced a winter Christmas as she was a New Zealander and it was summertime in New Zealand at Christmas. She and Aidan would also be breaking the news of their engagement to Aidan’s parents. They had gotten engaged just before the world premiere of The Desolation of Smaug in Los Angeles and they were also yet to break the news of their engagement to Amber’s parents back in New Zealand as they had not been back there after the world premiere. Things had been pretty crazy for Aidan while he was in LA with not only the world premiere to attend but also the launch of The Book of New Zealand, greeting the Air New Zealand Smaug plane and an event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where they had stayed while in LA. After those events they had returned to the UK then gone to Berlin and Zurich for premieres there. Once those were over they had returned to the UK again for a couple of weeks. After the world premiere photos had gone up online a lot of people had noticed that Amber was wearing a ring on her left ring finger and were speculating that Aidan and Amber were engaged. They hadn’t officially announced anything as they had wanted to break the news to their families first.

Amber went into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast for herself and Aidan. She was staying with Aidan at his penthouse apartment in London. Although they were engaged they were still sleeping in separate rooms as Amber wanted to wait until they were married to lose her virginity. Aidan had been very respectful of her beliefs knowing how important they were to her.  
“Mmm that smells delicious,” Aidan said, coming up behind Amber and wrapping his arms around her.  
“Morning sweetheart,” Amber said.  
Aidan turned her to face him and lowering his head found her lips with his.  
“This feels so weird. I’m used to it being summer time at this time of year,” Amber said.  
“I know. It was the opposite for me when I was in New Zealand filming for 18 months. It felt so odd it being summer time at Christmas. I knew exactly what the writer of that New Zealand Christmas carol ‘Carol our Christmas an Upside Down Christmas’ means,” Aidan said.  
He smiled at Amber who smiled back then looked down at the ring on her finger. It was gold with a large diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds.  
“I do hope your parents like me,” Amber said.  
“I’m sure they will,” Aidan said.

They had breakfast and then did their last minute packing. Finally the car was loaded and they were ready to go. They were driving 5 hours then catching the Dun Laoghaire Holyhead ferry which would take them to Dublin. It would take them two hours to get from Wales to Dublin and from there they’d drive to Clondalkin. So they would arrive in the evening. Aidan had called his parents to let them know roughly what time they’d be arriving.  
“I can’t wait to show you my man cave. We’ll have to shoot some pool while we’re there,” Aidan said, after they got going.  
“Yes we will,” Amber said.  
She was looking forward to that as she always enjoyed playing pool with Aidan. As they drove Aidan told Amber about some of the Irish Christmas traditions. Amber was intrigued to hear about the candle in the window as that wasn’t something that was done in New Zealand.  
“Will your parents have a candle in their window?” Amber asked.  
“More than likely. And they may have mistletoe hanging in the doorway. In which case I’ll be expected to kiss you when we are underneath it,” Aidan said.  
“I look forward to that,” Amber said.  
She winked at Aidan who grinned and winked back. Any excuse he had for kissing Amber he would kiss her.  
“Will your whole family be there?” Amber asked.  
“Yup. All my brothers and sisters will be there. I’ve got 2 brothers and 3 sisters. My family are Catholic so like most Catholic families we are a large family,” Aidan said.  
Amber wasn’t at all surprised to hear that as she knew Catholics frowned on using any form of birth control.

“Do your parents speak English or Irish around the home?” Amber asked.  
“They speak mainly Irish as Clondalkin may become one of Ireland’s newest Gaeltacht . There are a high number of Irish speakers there and there are two Irish language primary schools and an Irish language high school there. We all speak English as well as Irish though, “ Aidan said.  
“So you’re bilingual?” Amber asked.  
“I sure am. I learnt Irish at school as well as growing up with it spoken at home. I am as fluent in Irish as I am in English,” Aidan said.  
“Wow that’s impressive,” Amber said.  
“I don’t get to use Irish much. I could teach you Irish if you want,” Aidan said.  
“I’d like that. Then it could be our private language if we don’t want others to know what we’re saying,” Amber said.  
“That’s an awesome idea,” Aidan said.  
He smiled at Amber and she smiled back.  
“I guess your brothers and sisters would be bilingual too,” Amber said.  
“Yes. Oh and I forgot to tell you that some of them have kids who will be there too. I’ll get them to call you Aunty Amber since we’re engaged and you’ll be their Aunt after we marry,” Aidan said.  
“And you’d be Uncle Aidan to them,” Amber said.  
“Or Uncle Aid. Whatever they prefer,” Aidan said.

Amber nodded. They continued to chat as they drove for the next 4 and a half hours. Finally they reached the ferry terminal. Aidan drove onto the ferry and then they exited their car and made their way up on to the passenger deck. After a short wait the ferry began to move and they were on their way from Wales to Ireland. Amber waited for someone to recognize Aidan expecting it would eventually happen.  
“Hey aren’t you Aidan Turner?” someone eventually said to Aidan.  
“Yes yes I am,” Aidan said.  
“What brings you here?” The person asked.  
“I’m going home to Clondalkin for Christmas,” Aidan said.  
“Lovely. I hope you have an awesome time,” the person said.  
“It’s the first time my fiancée will have met my parents. This is Amber, she’s my fiancée,” Aidan said introducing Amber.  
“Nice to meet you,” the person said.  
Amber nodded and smiled. She and Aidan spent the rest of the trip chatting with the people around them. Finally it was time to disembark the ferry so they got back in Aidan’s car and once they had docked Aidan drove off the ferry. After that it was only a short drive to Clondalkin and to where Aidan’s parents lived. There were already 4 other cars parked on the road and in the driveway of Aidan’s parents place so Aidan parked where he could then the two made their way up the driveway and to the back door.

Aidan knocked and led Amber inside and through to the lounge. There his parents and siblings and their families were sitting around talking.  
“Conas atá tú? Nollaig Shona Duit,” Aidan greeted them.  
“Nollaig Shona Duit,” everyone responded.  
Amber guessed he had wished them a Merry Christmas and he confirmed this when he turned to her and said that he’d said how are you? Merry Christmas to his family.  
“Tá ag gach duine é seo mo fiancée Amber,” Aidan then said.  
Amber guessed he’d introduced her.  
“Hi everyone,” Amber said.  
She wasn’t surprised that Aidan was speaking in Irish since he’d warned her that his family spoke mostly Irish around the home. Amber noticed a few looks crossing Aidan’s family’s faces when she spoke and guessed they could tell she wasn’t Irish.  
“Where are you from?” Aidan’s mother asked, in a lilting Irish brogue.  
“New Zealand,” Amber said.  
Aidan’s mother raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Cá ndeachaigh tú freastal uirthi?” she asked Aidan.  
“Mum asked me where did I meet you,” Aidan translated for Amber.  
Aidan spoke rapidly in Irish explaining where he and Amber had met then translated for Amber what he had said.

Aidan’s parents invited the two to sit down and they did so. Aidan introduced Amber to his neices and nephews telling them to call her Aunty Amber. Aidan’’s family all wanted to know what he had been up to. Some of them had seen him on the news at premieres for Desolation of Smaug and he filled them in about going to LA and to Zurich and Berlin. Then Aidan’s father pointed to the mistletoe that was hanging from the light fixture in the middle of the room and said something in Irish to Aidan. Aidan grinned and grabbed Amber’s hand. Standing he led Amber under the mistletoe then dropped his head finding Amber’s lips with his. The two kissed their kiss quickly deepening. When they came up for air, Aidan smiled at his family and the two sat down again. Aidan’s mother excused herself to plate up dinner. It smelt delicious and over dinner Amber learnt that Aidan’s parents were practicing Catholics.  
“I’m baptist so I suppose I’m Protestant,” Amber said.  
Aidan’s siblings were also practicing Catholics. Amber knew that Aidan was not a practicing Catholic. He had been going to church with Amber when he’d been in New Zealand and the two were planning to find a church to go to in London. After dinner Aidan and Amber hung out with Aidan’s family until it was time to attend Christmas Eve Mass. Amber found it very interesting as she’d never attended a Mass before. When they got home everyone went to bed.

The next morning when Amber woke up, grey light was coming from behind her room’s curtains. She was in the guest room and Aidan in his old bedroom. Getting up Amber went to the curtains and opened them. It was snowing outside as predicted and Amber smiled happily. Aidan entered her room a few minutes later and Amber pointed to the window.  
“Snow babe. It’s a white Christmas. I never thought I’d ever get to experience this. It’s beautiful,” Amber said.  
Aidan wrapped his arms around her and Amber snuggled into him. It was cold and she appreciated his warmth. A few minutes later they went down to breakfast. Aidan’s parents had a roaring fire going which was warming up the house. After breakfast the family exchanged gifts and Amber learnt that the Irish loved to give gifts. Aidan had bought her a beautiful gold necklace and she’d bought him a tripod to use with his camera. Aidan’s family all gave Amber gifts as well. After the gift exchange everyone rugged up and went to Christmas morning Mass. After Mass it was back to Aidan’s parents place where Aidan’s mother put the Christmas dinner on. It was to be a traditional dinner and Amber looked forward to that. Usually she would have cold meat and salad on Christmas day or a barbecue. Once dinner was ready everyone tucked in. There was wine and Guiness to drink and Amber had some wine. She wasn’t surprised that Aidan was drinking Guiness as she knew he loved to drink. After dinner was over everyone pulled crackers then exchanged the usual terrible jokes that Amber was used to on Christmas day. After that everyone went outside and had a snow ball fight while the children made a snowmen . Amber took great delight in stuffing a snow ball down the back of Aidan’s jacket after Aidan had thrown a snowball that had splattered in Amber’s face. She had had no doubt he’d deliberately aimed for her even though he denied it vehemently 

That evening Amber and Aidan manged to get some alone time in the guest room.  
“I’ve had a lovely time today,” Amber said.  
“I’m glad you have enjoyed yourself. I can’t wait to visit your family,” Aidan said.  
They were flying to New Zealand four days later and would see in the New Year with Amber’s family.  
“You’ll like them,” Amber said.  
Aidan was yet to meet Amber’s parents as he hadn’t had a chance to while in New Zealand previously.  
“I enjoyed the snowball fight this afternoon. It was the first time I’d ever been in one and it was loads of fun. We don’t get much snow in Hamilton,” Amber said.  
“I didn’t mean to hit you honest,” Aidan said.  
“Liar,” Amber said jokingly.  
“Well you got me back good. My jacket is still drying out. Little git,” Aidan said jokingly.  
He kissed her and when the two came up for air Amber smiled at Aidan.  
“Merry Christmas darling,” Amber said.  
“Nollaig Shona Duit,” Aidan said.  
End


End file.
